You have changed my mind about Forbidden Lands to a more favourable view of the game . Both the travel mechanics and moreso the home base domain play make me think of dnd games from back in the day which is something I enjoyed engaging with .

One thing I really like about Forbidden Lands is the campaign setting. In "Raven's Purge", your characters can meet different factions, all with their noble and not so noble sides, and the characters themselves can decide who to ally with. Additionally, the different locations can appear anywhere on the map, which gives both the GM and the players more freedom of choice. I have rarely seen as much modularity in a setting as with Forbidden Lands. By now, there are two more books about larger areas, namely the "Bloodmarch" (a kind of magical jungle) and the "Bitter Reach" (an ice desert).

Gotta say, I disagree with your statement it is a “standard fantasy world” though. Every race is a weird twist on a fantasy race. Elves are immortal beings with souls trapped in stones and continually come back so long as their stone is unbroken. Dwarves are literally earth and rock being, and goblins and halflings have some of the coolest twists I’ve ever seen. It is much darker than “standard fantasy” orcs are probably my favorite shift from the norm. Also, the base book doesn’t have a ton about the setting, but there are three setting books. One, for the core area, is Raven’s Purge. It really fleshes it out. The other two include new maps, stickers, and character options. One is for the north and the other the west.

I really recommend using the Mutant Year Zero Ark rules if the Stronghold rules isn't to your liking. They are easy to homebrew for Forbidden Lands

The different traveling types are definitely interesting - i havent played a game like that before

I love this game. It's a modern take on old school vibes with the additional detail of adventures being...odd. The Halfing profile just paints Halflings as miserable home owners association jerks and the adventurers among them can't wait to get away from that. Each race also has some "interesting" opinions about the others. So, grim, dangerous, largely unknown (forgotten) world, cantankerous playable races who don't all like each other but have to make it work. That is NOT typical fantasy. It's also got a survival horror aspect to it. This is more like fantasy post apocalypse. The generators are great and the character lifepath sheet really gives you a backstory as you build your PC. You know who they are and where they came from. The books are wonderfully made (Free League is top notch in production) and getting a map with a sheet of stickers to literally fill in the blanks of the world is great. There are mutiple campaign books for the game as well as some fantastic online resources (generators and so on).

I love all The Gaming Table videos!

Nice! This is one of my favorite fantasy RPG’s on the market right now. Plus it is such an amazing deal

A word of warning about the setting: The basic idea is as she stated, and that's fine. Unfortunately, there is an excessive amount of history that involves the wars and religions of the area and it is boring. I tried to ignore it, but at least one of the included adventures and several of the random tables/events reference the history. Other than that, this is a great system. She neglected to mention that your group's exploration will reveal unique towns and ruins which makes the game fresh for everyone, including the GM.

What are the dice mechanics of the game?

Thanks for the review

Excellent review! I'm not sure if this is a game I'd fall in love with, but it sounds like a game I definitely want to read and run a few test games with.

Soooo, when are you doing Dragonbane? Because it is wonderful and the art is from the same source as Vaesen. Fantastic box set with campaign too. One of my new favorite games and an amazing value.

Which RPGs would you reccomend for a unique setting if your'e tired of standard fantasy?

Great review as always, thank you.

Is the the Girl from Deer Stalker? Cause it looks like her and she's my favorite thing about that channel.

I bought Forbidden Lands on Black Friday and I'm currently running my first game. I think it is a great system, the boxed set is world class quality and the tools it brings are great. The setting is...meh, but I still consider it a great addition to the collection.

Good thougths, Lexi.

Forbidden Lands is so underrated. One of the better OSR games in the last decade.

I personally don't like the mechanics with different colours of d6. Also, the map that is being permanently changed in the process in the game feels quite wasteful!